To The Moon

Last week, Japan's financial giant SBI Group made a series of significant announcements: first, it announced partnerships with Circle, Ripple, and Startale, followed by a collaboration with Chainlink to jointly promote stablecoins, RWA tokenization, and cross-border payment solutions. In just a few days, SBI transformed from the image of a "traditional financial institution" to one of Japan's most proactive Web 3 players.This is not just an ordinary business collaboration; it is more like a signal released by SBI to the market: it aims to seize the opportunity of the next round of financial infrastructure transformation, upgrading from a "financial service provider" to a "digital asset infrastructure provider." Against the backdrop of the imminent launch of yen stablecoins and the gradual formation of the Asian crypto corridor, this move undoubtedly positions SBI at the forefront of Japan's financial digital transformation.

Traditional Financial Giants are building Japan's Digital Financial Landscape 

The story of SBI dates back to 1999 when it was still SoftBank's SoftBank Investment, named after the initials of SoftBank Investment. After becoming independent in 2006, the company officially changed its name to SBI Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Tokyo. Initially, it focused on three core businesses: securities, banking, and insurance, and gradually expanded into asset management and biotechnology, forming a comprehensive group spanning finance and healthcare. More than twenty years later, SBI is no longer the small player it once was; it has grown into a heavyweight player in Japan's financial market. It is even viewed as the strongest challenger outside of the three major banks (Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, and Mizuho) — a candidate for the fourth major bank. Today, SBI's business framework revolves around five major sectors: financial services, private equity investment, asset management, crypto assets, and next-generation businesses. This diversification strategy not only solidified its foothold in the Japanese market but also laid a natural foundation for its subsequent entry into the digital asset space.

More importantly, SBI's recent surge in partnerships is not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Behind the frequent official announcements of collaborations, it has been deeply engaged in the crypto ecosystem for many years. Leveraging its traditional financial roots in securities and asset management, SBI has gradually expanded its territory through its subsidiaries into trading, payments, custody, lending, liquidity services, and more, almost covering the entire infrastructure of digital finance. At the same time, it has not missed the new opportunities in Web 3, experimenting with NFTs, decentralized finance, and the tokenization of real-world assets. Crucially, it dares to ally with international giants: whether it's Ripple, Circle, or R3, all are collaborating with it to explore new possibilities in stablecoins, cross-border payments, and tokenization.

In other words, today's SBI is no longer just a traditional financial group in Japan; it resembles one of the few "dual engines" in East Asia — rooted in traditional finance while accelerating forward in the wave of crypto finance.

From Zero to Hero:SBI Secures Japan's Only Stablecoin License 

In the stablecoin arena, SBI has gained a significant first-mover advantage in compliance. Back in 2023, when Japan's Financial Services Agency relaxed the ban on the issuance of foreign stablecoins domestically, SBI quickly sensed the opportunity and signed a strategic partnership with Circle. Just a year later, its SBI VC Trade platform completed the trading registration of USDC, becoming Japan's first and only company to hold a stablecoin license, and was the first to bring USDC to market.

Subsequently, SBI and Circle established a joint venture, Circle SBI Japan, specifically to promote the adoption of USDC in Japan. When Circle went public in June 2025, SBI decisively invested $50 million, further binding the relationship between the two. Last week, the two companies expanded their cooperation again, planning to integrate USDC more deeply into cross-border payments and digital financial services. Through this series of actions, SBI not only leads its peers in compliance and infrastructure but also becomes a key foothold for Circle to enter the Asian market. The performance of its digital asset business is equally impressive: by 2024, related revenues reached 80 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of over 40%, with the number of users doubling from 800,000 to 1.65 million in just one year.

If USDC is SBI's entry point into the stablecoin world, then Ripple's RLUSD serves as its bridge to cross-border payments. Just last week, SBI announced that it would introduce RLUSD to the Japanese market, with plans for a formal launch in the first quarter of 2026. The design concept of this stablecoin is straightforward: it combines the stability of the US dollar with the speed of blockchain, ensuring compliance and transparency while achieving near-instant settlement. For example, if a US user wants to send dollars to Japan, the funds will first be converted to XRP, transmitted across borders via blockchain in seconds, and then converted back to yen in Japan, with RLUSD serving as the anchor asset to ensure the stability and reliability of cross-border funds.

Through the "dual-track approach" with Circle and Ripple, SBI has almost constructed a complete stablecoin landscape: USDC handles payment and trading, while RLUSD focuses on cross-border settlement and enterprise services. This parallel approach firmly positions SBI at the center of the Asian stablecoin landscape.

The Rise of RWA: SBI Builds Japan's Version of Robinhood

$Robinhood(HOOD)$  

Beyond stablecoins, SBI is also focusing on RWA (real-world asset tokenization). This has been one of the fastest-growing sectors over the past two years — from $5 billion at the beginning of 2023 to nearly $30 billion now, an increase of more than five times. Bonds, funds, and government bonds are currently the mainstream applications, but the share of stock-like assets is still less than 1%, indicating significant potential.

Imagine buying a bond that traditionally requires a few days for settlement; once placed on the blockchain, it can be completed instantly like a transfer. Similarly, a fund that traditionally has high investment thresholds and slow redemption can be tokenized, functioning like a digital ticket that can be bought and sold 24/7. For investors, this offers unprecedented convenience; for institutions, it significantly enhances capital efficiency. It’s no wonder that overseas giants like Gemini, Kraken, and Robinhood have launched similar round-the-clock tokenized trading platforms.SBI clearly does not want to fall behind. In 2025, the group partnered with Web 3 infrastructure company Startale to establish an on-chain tokenization platform in Japan, securing milestone-based funding commitments, aiming to build a complete system covering issuance, clearing, custody, and cross-chain interoperability.More critically, SBI is not going it alone; it has brought in the global blockchain plumber — Chainlink. This company excels at ensuring "interconnectivity" between blockchains. Simply put, it enables tokens on different chains to flow smoothly, much like interbank transfers between different banks. This time, Chainlink will assist SBI in ensuring the security and compliance of cross-chain transactions when tokenizing assets like bonds and real estate. Additionally, Chainlink will bring the net asset value (NAV) data of funds onto the blockchain for transparency, allowing investors to track asset values at any time; its Proof of Reserve technology will also provide on-chain verification for stablecoins and funds, mitigating the risk of disconnect between paper assets and actual reserves.

If Robinhood's significance in the U.S. is to bring stocks and crypto derivatives to retail investors with zero barriers, then SBI is attempting to carve out a similar path in Japan. With its deep roots in securities and banking, combined with its pioneering layout in stablecoins and RWA, SBI is striving to push tokenized assets into mainstream investment channels. For Japanese investors, this not only means they can trade stocks and bonds 24/7 like a transfer but also that they can directly participate in the global crypto financial market within a compliant and secure framework. In other words, the RWA platform built by SBI is not merely a technical upgrade; it is a Robinhood-style financial inclusion experiment that could become a watershed moment for Japan's capital market to officially enter Web 3.

From the Fourth Largest Bank to a Digital Asset Infrastructure Giant

For SBI, entering the crypto world is not a spur-of-the-moment decision but a natural continuation of its strategy. Japan has long been in an ultra-low interest rate environment, and traditional financial businesses like banking and securities have become highly homogenized, leaving little room for profit. Meanwhile, the global landscape of stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization (RWA) is entering a compliance fast lane. The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) relaxed stablecoin regulations in 2023, effectively signaling a green light for the new track. SBI chose not to sit on the sidelines but decisively took action, partnering with international players like Circle and Ripple, leaping from industry observer to rule-maker, and positioning itself in the two most promising battlegrounds of stablecoins and RWA.On a deeper level, this is not just an expansion of business but a leap in identity. In the past, people viewed SBI as Japan's fourth-largest bank; now, it is attempting to upgrade to the first infrastructure giant of the digital asset era. 

Currently, SBI is preparing to launch Japan's first Bitcoin futures on the Osaka Dojima Exchange and has set a goal to increase profits from its digital asset business to 50 billion yen by the fiscal year 2028, equivalent to a growth of 150%. 

This indicates that SBI's ambitions have long transcended the framework of traditional finance; what it truly bets on is the deep integration of Japan's financial system with blockchain in the future. In other words, SBI is not just betting on the price fluctuations of crypto assets; it aims to become a key player in the reconstruction of the new global financial order.

$SBI Holdings, Inc.(SBHGF)$

$Circle Internet Corp.(CRCL)$

$XRP ETF(XRPI)$

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